Debbi McCulloch reveals why she will resign as Spartans manager

Debbi McCulloch announced earlier this week that she would resign as Spartans manager as she confirmed her thought process for making the decision. 

McCulloch has been at the club for a number of years, guiding Spartans through multiple SWPL campaigns. However, upon her announcement as the new CEO of the Spartans Community Foundation, she decided to call time on her reign in the dugout to focus on her new role. This may have come as a shock to many fans across the country with McCulloch being one of the most influential figures in the Scottish women’s game. However, the manager has now spoken to the Edinburgh Evening News to discuss the move. 

“It’s something that I have had to prepare for knowing that I will become the next CEO of the foundation,” she stated. “I have made my peace with that quite a few months ago knowing that if I was going to be successful, I would ultimately take the decision not to continue with the SWPL team. Trying to do two full-time jobs like I have been trying to do for the last 18 months or even for the last 17 years has been hugely difficult. 

“With this new role, there becomes additional responsibility and I want to make sure that I commit 100%. I am going to take this really seriously. The difficult decision is that I will step down once a successor is found but I will hopefully stay involved in some capacity and support the club with whatever they need going forward.”

McCulloch had been part of the foundation leadership team for the last 15 years alongside her managerial role of the women’s first team. She will now take over Douglas Samuel who has contributed to the community for the past 17 years. However, McCulloch still insists that she will still miss her team when she departs. 

“I knew the CEO role was becoming available and I took the decision to apply,” she explained. “I have only found out recently that I have been successful so that has given me a lot of time to reflect and to be able to think things over. I am at peace with that decision, will I miss being in the dugout and the changing room? Absolutely, it has been such a huge part of my life for the last 15 years. But I also love my day job and the aspect of being able to change people’s lives. I want to make sure I do that justice and the only way to do that is if I have more time and better quality of working life balance as well.”

Spartans have two more games before McCulloch leaves her managerial position. The Edinburgh side travel to Celtic on Sunday before hosting Montrose a week later.